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May 31, 2021 2:00 am
Listening to God's voice as a married couple, Levi and Jennie Lusko left what felt like an easy life to begin a new adventure. Listen as they tell hosts Dave and Ann Wilson of their ups and downs in ministry and the blessing they found in following the Lord together!
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Alright so as you think back on marrying me. Yes, your biggest thought was, I will never marry. What a pastor and go to Detroit them all – well, I never thought about that that I could find to work out. Welcome to family life today where we want to help you pursue the relationships that matter most and Wilson and Andre Wilson and you can find us if it we live today.com or on our family life.
This is family life today. It's so funny because I thought these are the things that would be horrible if I did them and now I'm living it, and it is been the greatest journey of my life. It's been an amazing journey that is because of Jesus because he's taken because of me, all I sorry that because of Jesus. I bring that up because we got a couple today that's live the similar journey in terms of Levi Jenny Lesko started a church in Montana and welcome to family life today. You guys think.
Yeah, thanks for not so fun. By the way, as many people know. Not only are you pastors afresh life Church in Montana and Wyoming and Utah all kinds of different places which you have to tell us how that asked to happen but also authors, prolific authors of incredible books were. I talked today about through the eyes of a lion but you got. I declare war and swipe right and how do I know all these things because our son is you have to your literary agent which is really really cool but talk a little bit about your story.
I want to hear that she's interesting how many years of you guys been married 17 years. Okay. And then how many kids do you have five rifted to head to look like I told her that you know what will.
That's a tough question to answer. Always will we struggle with it because people ask, we see us on our planet only could you have urges all your kids and for us.
Of course, and will talk about. I'm sure that the detention is we have a child in heaven. And so we have four kids on earth one child in heaven, so the*on that is plus how many kids you have or how they see us with the girls they would go all all girls you know and it's like is is just funny because when you have a child, heaven. The clumsy articulation of an answer.
The question is we technically still have that child. It's not here with us, but a five altogether for you disk running part of your story last night, so all this is 15 and our youngest is three with four girls in a row and then a little boy three years ago that's fine having a boy raising of everything's different. Funny set Christmas Levi.
It was preaching nicely and he had ordered us to for the next.
I got a letter for little kids super Linux so but for Levi. He was racing and Linux is like commerce it to and I had planned his Christmas outfit delete I ordered one for him and the whole time. He is like to get married on Christmas because he thinks like laying a seal is going to get married on Christmas and sell it was just so cute because even now like you sell. He always talks on his wife and how he's getting me is like the church and how you can kiss on the lips like that's like one of his biggest way that you use a few too many times you said you guys soon to meet the way you Lennox wants to be.
Did you kiss in churches is how you start that of the great church. Jenny was an intern in the missions department. I was the assistant pastor and we met serving in the did in the youth ministry setting up chairs for the youth service and she was voluntary house volunteer. I was was my job. She was volunteering and I knew immediately. She took her all of two minutes and we both, how delicate the sense she tells the story she saw me and said I would like to grow over that person.
I just never seen think she's beautiful.
I didn't think anything about old age. But we definitely hit it off pretty quick to let me just say that that's interesting that further on in our relationship early on.
Think I wanted to know you pressing everything. Of course, my memory is not great either. But now I remember think we were dating I remember like just looking at you when day and thinking I'd just like to grow old with likely like because obviously love Jesus here just fine. Kinda weird like think of that often.
But, like I just think it was a sweet little moment that God can about that. To my mind is to see what it was at this moment was a dear do you know the song I want to make you smile when you said care you around the house when your arthritis gets better.
Do is grow old with you, you know that I know those moments were awesome would be so embarrassed because I would grab my guitar incentive items Adler singers see you guys are too young.
Now you saw that I saw wedding Singer Sunday or I remember vividly know you say that the great movie reference by the just really like busted that out saying what he does he know whatever and so take us back by your PK, your dad was a pastor.
Where did that begin like did they grow up in the church take us back to that my parents were both radically saved in the midst of the hippie movement there both first-generation believers and their families before them. Atheism and secular is intellectual and my mom's mom was very divorced three times. My dad was raised by his stepfather and his mother never knew his dad and you know he was told by his stepfather. He called him his daddy put $20 bill down the table one day and said that's only God you ever need to worry about this good. I was only education throughout. He was given his almighty dollar so no upbringing of faith to speak of, or really love or affection for either of them on both sides and so they decide to find their own way in the my dad got saved in Hawaii values there to join the Greenpeace saving the whales and my mom got saved, I believe, through University and she and him had dated before they were and lived together before they got saved, went to several ways. Both found Jesus ended up coming back together got married super involved in in church ministry and church planning. They ended up later getting divorced, something surfaced from both of them had lots of of course trauma, especially my mom from things that she faced before they came together but so there no longer together, but I had a very happy life group in the church knowing Jesus my whole life as a second generation Christian. And so very different than them and since I was two years old, felt the call of God in my life to be a pastor like my dad is how he's always said and I've never really done anything else but that.
So if we were seeing you in high school or maybe college would we look at you and go there's a future pastor here lived a life that would make me think he's going in the ministry.
Well, I mean guy I was not without my all my dips and sanctification sanctification journey. To be sure, but I preached my first sermon at 14. I would get dropped off after school, church and serving the youth ministry health plan summer camps and mission trips and I had a real significant challenge crisis of faith. My senior year in high school, where for a few months and was the chaplain of my Christian high school is a volunteer summing of literally. You would've thought future pastor, for sure, but that about three or four months. I really wandered away and thought it was, was proving times I begin my whole life up to this and it kinda had come to do.
I really believe this is really what I want to do and dabbled in drinking a little bit during that period and really had a wake-up call. Of this is you know that I was running it was my Jonah moment. I think it was mostly just feeling like that panic that like maybe I made a mistake in my got missed out and I realized through those few moments of's of sin of calico prodigal son coming to my senses realizing how good out of the fathers table and really, never look back from following wholeheartedly. Jesus thanked anyone about your faith when that become really important to you. I grew up in a Christian home and my I remember when I was sizing and I had seen the gospel presentation at church with salty singing and I remember my that night and remember my dad playing with me and accepted Jesus understood that I was the center and I needed Jesus died on the cross for my sins and rose from that I remember.
Understanding that to some extent when a seven and it's really kind of been that journey of what it has look like throughout different seasons and stages of my life to love Jesus and to follow hand in. I'm so grateful that when I was a middle school.
They were super plaguing our church and I just immediately got plugged into a small group and going to church and really cannot having my people church and letting it and mission trips.
I think mission trips are related go to Mexico every summer and that we thought we were doing something good for the people that ultimately looking back I see how God is just getting a hold of my heart and and so grateful for that. And then just journey through high school and always that is always the struggle wanting to be liked by a boy wanting to like a Blaine on the Lantus 10 was when my mom brought me to this purity conference call the garden enclosed and I remember hearing for the first time that guide wanting me to save sex until marriage, and to save myself for my future husband.
I didn't even know exactly what that meant but I knew that I wanted God's best for my lifetime member at that point really having that kind of goal of like I've forgotten a lot on her hand and I want to save myself. My husband one day, whenever that isn't what so sweetly that was that age 7, and 10 were very significant moments with God and it kind of like just led me through and that I still had struggles with wanting to be liked by boys and stuff like that but it was just really special when I was 19 and I feel like God is calling me to New Mexico and Ted be a part of their missions internship there and it's so funny because my whole even their high school like I wanted to be a missionary and I always thought I was going to be a missionary in Africa or Asia. So I literally missions move me from Monterey California to Albuquerque New Mexico and Levi and I'm not like right away and I had made a decision to not date whole year and just to focus on the Lord and not have any distractions. And so we met halfway through that year and looking back is just a special because God truly gave us the gift as a foundation of friendship and sell where my whole life. I even from kindergarten on. I've always wanted to be like a viable way and need to have that relationship with the boy in here I and I meet. I need an answer to Mary, but there's the decision I made to not date.
So we literally were forced to be friends and so looking back are so grateful for that. And then we started dating right after ranting chaplain got married and set up my parents were Catholic I've actually baptized as a baby is in the Catholic Church that they gave both get our lives to Christ. When I was five I think and sell.
That was kind of a legacy for me to walk in, and since then, I mean my parents are married anymore either, but I just they laid out a good foundation for me and now so grateful to hear you are in love to hear how you end up in Montana, you know, I know that you had sort of a youth pastor. Maybe teaching pastor job in Southern California, but then you get this call so don't little store and he said it was kind of a cushy job yes meaning you didn't have a lot of responsibilities outside of communicating a message which is in and of itself a challenge, of course.
Anybody who's ever read preaches it's it's hard work you know takes time for me to do it well and always put his heart and soul messages even when we were leaving youth group in the next get together he would acquire time and effort, energy and prayer into these messages for the student site looking back even seeing that the land and the Karen afferent energy going into messages back then that's discounted then when you work or so, but I didn't have any of the other responsibilities that make ministry more challenging. You know, dealing with teams dealing with the burden of finance, HR, all the things that really bring headaches and complexities to the ministry and yet we can always deep down knew that one day that we we had the desired unit, entrepreneurial mission, we like we said. We both got her start in missions in that mission, the missionary spirit that is that the core of church planting church planters. You understand that and so we Catholic the time was can become when we would probably feel that call.
We were in a rush or hurry. We are always under good leaders and so we knew the time would come when God would show us and we do know, given the go-ahead to go do that. Will it came sooner than expected because the senior pastor of the church left and when that happened the board look to us to start doing the teaching and in the season.
We are fine with, but then in the church was very 2000 peoples was a good size church if all small compared to the churches. But the truth. I grew up and specifically but it wasn't good in America. That is a big church and and I was okay. Yeah, I'm excited actually was always excited to teach in the main sanctuary as opposed to just the student ministry. I was nervous it would work so I just sorta gave the same student messages are given.
Lo and behold it worked.
It connected like that's great. You know the truth is truth right but then the board said hey this is going well. The church is growing responding well to your gift. We like to make this permanent and make this an like the arrangement that you will be the teaching pastor and someone else will make the decisions and that was when we felt pause because it was fine is a temporary arrangement but to be in a situation where we had no leadership say and we just were there to show up, give a message and then shut up. We did and feels comfortable with that because we have to basically prostituted teaching gift, to the exclusion of any other abilities we have not to say anything about the cut idea of the authority of the pulpit should be matched with vision and leadership.
You know, say so is how I think the communication of God's word should set the pace for the vision and the execution of the church and so now someone else doing that just didn't fix it right with our spirit, and so we began the journey of praying about what God might have next for us as opposed to just staying there, but not really believing that that was what God called us to do because it was a good paycheck.
We had a great life we lived a mile from the beach, had season passes to Disneyland anointed so it Southern California who doesn't want to live there right when you say cuss that was cannot a cushy job.
We could've very much that on autopilot there and get a message once we can basically just but we wouldn't of felt right and we knew that if God called us to something else to say no to that would be to miss an opportunity even though seem like the path was taken and for us that ultimately led us to Montana, which didn't feel like suffering because I grew up in the ski towns of Colorado and I loved that. But it just wasn't the metropolitan area that we always, deep down suspected we would end up in Los Angeles or New York City or Chicago or something and knows mountain town, small little area and and yet it was what God kind of put to our hearts so you start fresh life. I'm guessing you didn't start with the thousand people for probably sorta small and starts to grow to 1414 people came. 1414 we met above a bar in an upper room. We had left California was 70° in January we got to Montana first Sunday was 14 which is very different baby.
As you know in Michigan.
14 the cold and in a windchill worse, not drifting snow and we both were like looking at a childlike wonder where Johnny Lacey try yeah you find me of some 20° windchill really quick and we were both looking at each other and thinking we made a huge mistake. We had wanted Jenny was pregnant. I didn't know I was pregnant until he moved to Montana but it's interesting because today there are church planning like organizations that help people case you want to plant a church in Chicago. We can help you here is usually Delia's finances like so there's that organization I can come behind you and support you. We didn't have such a thing and her friends were old hood planted churches.
We would ask them what they did and they would say well we started duplicating tape cassettes. Although all of hundred 50s and 60s so their frame of reference was three decades prior planning, which is called principal Truman meeting people in connection as far as going also.
Literally we were taken on ads in the newspaper you know we we just didn't know what to do, but the cool thing was God you know is collect old commercial you. You asked for. You got it. We felt like you asked for an adventure. You got a venture baby you wanted to use faith here you go and you want to be a leader. Well, here's a chance to lead and it was it was a beautiful chance for us to develop and who God wanted us to be.
Most of our listeners are married families, blended families, you name it.
I'm guessing that could've been somewhat difficult on your marriage at the time, start a new thing in small and stressful thing talk about that a little bit what was it like for your marriage you I thought that that was one challenge that really wasn't too hard for us. We bonded together. We were we really in it together is that it wasn't like Levi fell. This is what got Congress to do, and then I was like cane reluctantly going. It was like no yeah this is a is a God calling us to get. I feel like we were only married three years and so I mean where Neil newly married and Olivia was 15 months old and I was unknowingly pregnant Lenny hello for you guys. At the time 2012 five I think yeah but again, but every week we had we been in what we were doing for a long time. I said, preaching a 14 night you know we both had planned and led mission trip to do this you honestly, it hasn't felt like we were thrusting anything that God hadn't prepared us for right.
It was definitely hard and I think the bigger step of moving to Montana was in his heart is just the daily and I think that even met in my life. I think that is definitely more of a struggle. It's likely a big step of faith. That's actually easier to trust God and because it's like it's big thing and he'll take care of it versus the daily reading and in marriage and like the little hammer. The one of the biggest challenges I remember was we had we failed to turn a foreman soon enough after my second daughter's birth and so the health insurance rejected her entire first year on being our health insurance and so her birth, and all the subsequent things and that she ours fees was hospitalized. It wind up having to pay out-of-pocket for all that and we know we had the funds to live early on. Very simply, and so the unexpected medical bills that presented stress that was unique season of our lives in a member looking back on that really was challenging to trust God through your church started to grow quickly, rapidly, God was really moving and your family started to grow to take us to that point. When you have four kids this Christmas like rabbits cold winters stay warm so we had all his kids how to get housing as they want. Will the church grew and and soon we had an egg is a story similar trajectory of growth in new cities and opportunities and we had multiple campuses and then multiple kids yet to four dollars and the little boy came way way way way later but it was very much like every day a new thing. It was a beautiful week. We've always said like a church planter and it was like skiing in front of an avalanche and God's Holy Spirit was in it. People getting saved and touched in your lives are being impacted and thoughts. Ben, the fund beautiful thing.
Watching all the kids before covert. We were we just opened our 13th location which was in a prison in the state prison Montana population every week gathering to watch and yes such a fun blur.
Looking back on it all and obviously you know we have a devastating moment coming in your marriage in your life.
But before we talk about that talk about calling you nose a couple because you talked about your call.
How do you know how do you sense what God wants you to do what I think that asking of the question is where the journey begins. It's one of those paths that you don't find until you start trying to walk it and so I think where we begin in Scripture is always with the general will of God. God's will is that none should perish, so my saved God's will is sanctified and sexually pure that I'm thankful and rejoicing always so like when we start to develop those sorts of things.
I think the more specific Dean of tangential areas of the school that brand of toothpaste those things sort of God as you're walking in the general will puts in your heart the desires that he wants you to walk in and so I think it was Augustine's had love God and do whatever you want and there is some truth in some freedom to that God's call is what ever you do, to the glory as you walk with him in relationship and Colossians says the peace of God rule in your hearts to what you called and be thankful. So I think there's a sense in which you really can't say look saved not engross in observing tithing giving you all these things I'm supposed to be doing and now I get to do whatever I want. So as God is my desire to take this job great tickets for the red dirt desire that sport in school. Amazing. Go for it in the think there's a freedom and that where you view God's will more as a launchpad than a lockdown scan.
I think thing.
Also in the married whereabouts that has been the wife are following hard after God individually because I think were hungry for God on our own and work together, asking God to lead us and what he has for us in the daily things to it's easier because were both listening for God's voice and were both wanting to a strong relationship with him individually that it makes it easier and it takes the pressure off of each other to try to like Levi you're leaving me so you have to make all the decisions. It's like now I'm I'm also hearing from God and there is such a piece right now in this decision and honestly like there such beauty and that one where both following Jesus and loving hand and ban letting him lead us together as I listen to you guys when I when I hear and what I see our lives are just surrendered like God.
Here we are, will do anything and go anywhere for you because we want to make your name known. I think that's the key, and maybe maybe you listening your spouse is and on the same page spiritually, but you still can go before the father who hears every single prayer as you call out to him. He's like here you will hear your passion.
I I want to answer you, and so even if we go before the father and we go before Jesus and like I want to live the life that you called me to keep the site.
I'm not can I do that he's like I'm all about that.
I want you to live because I created you and I put gifts in you and strengthen you to bring glory to my name and it will bring you joy and as I look at you to. That's what you've done surrendered. You've heard the call and you just kind of walking this path of what is placed before you.
Because he put so many gifts into you and I doses a sense that it's a joint calling yeah that he calls the two of you. I know that when we got married.
I knew that my call would be our call. It isn't God call me are gone and were married for one he's gonna call us together. Obviously we walked a similar path in terms of planting churches, but I think that's true for every couple when you're married. It is in a separate it's a calling as a partnership for kingdom impact in July. Yeah that's that's true regardless of how it actually works out mechanically and I think of some listening if there there husband is on the road or whatever.
It's like you're still part of it, even though you might be behind the scenes.
Note, someone asked John Glenn what it was like to be the you know the man who interpreted the earth for the first time and he said well I got to actually be there but there's 400,000 people in NASA who put me out there.
You know, so I think you don't be in our roles we get to seep serve more publicly. You're on the radio.
Together we lead as a church planting couple together for the couple who may date the mom stays home or whatever like you still are part of what God call your husband or your wife to do even if you serve in a way that's unseen.
As Paul says the hand needs the eye that I need some foot, etc. knowing that it changes to you like for us. There is a season where I am is literally home all the time with the kids in homeschooling and you know that staffing and now it just looks all that bit different in the season knowing that it's not like this because it's one way it can always be that way. That being sensitive to the spirit leading and evidently I also was so amazing in leading and that way to like giving me more like pushing because I'm more like for reluctant leader. I guess it's that he's more like I want you to say something I want you to Jesus I want you like and said that has also been super helpful for me as being more of that now.
Actually, I like being in the background and I don't want to to do anything like that so that's helpful. Just, and even our relations and you and I also think you know when you when you think about calling a special use were talk about a married couple you think God's call will not involve pain, it will not involve loss as we step into the rest of your store will find out sometimes doesn't go the way we think this could be really really hard anytime were facing an option between a place that looks good. The place that God is calling us to. It's always the right choice to go where God is calling us to a great conversation today with David and Wilson talking to Levi and Jenny Lesko about their story about their life. As Dave mentioned there's more to this story that will be hearing this week.
Levi has written a book called through the eyes of the law. I am facing impossible pain finding incredible power which is the story working on back. That book is available in our family like today resource Center you can order the book from us online@familylifetoday.com or you can call to order one 800, FL, today is the number 1-800-358-6329 that's one 800 F as in family L as in life and in the word today… The last day of May, and if you been listening to family life today at all during the month of May. You know that we have been hoping, praying, asking you to help us take full advantage of a matching gift opportunity that was made available to us.
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